SEP06

1916 - Birth of Lee Andrew Archer Jr. American Fighter aircraft pilot in the African-American WWII unit the Tuskegee Airmen, 1st African American military aviator in the United States Army Air Corps earning the rank of Lieutenant Colonel

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Archer_(pilot)

1918 - 1st flight of The Bristol Scout F.1, British single seat biplane fighter (2nd prototype of the Scout F).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_Scout_F

1926 - Death of Belvin (Melvin) Womble Maynard, American early aviator, Army pilot and raid pilot, killed in a crash during a circus show in Vermont.

http://earlyaviators.com/emaynard.htm - http://www.archives.ncdcr.gov/ffc/Flight/Aviation/Belvin_Maynard.html

1926 - The Wright XF3W 'Apache', American racing aircraft prototype, set the world altitude record for seaplanes of 38,500 ft (11,700 m).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright_XF3W

1929 - The Yakovlev AIR-3, Soviet 2-seat general aviation monoplane, flew non-stop between Mineralnye Vody and Moscow, a distance of 1835 km at an average speed 166.8km/h, achieving 2 light aircraft world records.

http://www.aviastar.org/air/russia/ya-3.php - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakovlev_AIR-3

1929 - 1st flight of the SPAD S-56/6, Evolution of the French Biplane single engine small Airliner prototype, customised for banner towing for the Air Publicité company

http://aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=9401 - http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bl%C3%A9riot-SPAD_S.56

1929 - French Charles Fauvel set a new close circuit 700Km record for an aircraft under 400 kg with the Peyret-Mauboussin PM X (High wing single seat tourer).

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Fauvel - http://aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=9458

1929 - The Schneider Trophy race flown at Calshot Spit, UK is Won by Flt. Off. Richard Dick Waghorn in a Supermarine S.6 at 528.9 km/h (328.7 mph).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supermarine_S.6#Operational_history

1931 - Air Commodore Ramón Vergara, Commander-in-chief of the Chilean Air Force and brother of the Minister of War concentrated all his air power in the city of Ovalle, amassing 2 Junkers R-42 heavy bombers, 14 Curtiss Falcon and Vickers Vixen light bombers, 2 Vickers-Wibault Type 121s and 2 Ford 5-AT-C transports (modified as light bombers). They bombed the Chilean Navy mutineers in Coquimbo.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilean_naval_mutiny_of_1931

1937 - Birth of Irina Bayanovna Solovyova, world champion member of the Soviet national parachutists and one of the 5 women chosen in the female cosmonaut group but never went into space.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irina_Solovyova

1938 - Death of John Stuart Hindmarsh, also known as Johnny Hindmarsh, English racecar driver and aviator. killed while test flying Hawker Hurricane I L1652 at Brooklands. He is thought to have been overcome by carbon monoxide fumes in the cockpit, and the aeroplane then dived almost vertically into the ground and exploded at the foot of St George’s Hill almost opposite the Vickers factory entrance.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Stuart_Hindmarsh

1939 - A technical fault at the Chain Home Radio Direction Finding (radar) station at Canewdon, compounded by a series of mistakes within RAF Fighter Command's fighter control system, leads to friendly aircraft being plotted as an incoming air raid. A section of No.72 Squadron (Supermarine Spitfires) misidentifie two Hurricanes of No.56 Squadron as Messerschmitt Bf109s and shoot both aircraft down. One pilot, Pilot Officer M.L. Hulton-Harrop, is killed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Barking_Creek

1939 - Birth of Stephen Wesley Pless, USMC helicopter pilot during the Vietnam war, famous for having rescued soldiers trapped by heavy enemy fire.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_W._Pless#Life_after_Vietnam

1941 - Death of Shoji Kato, Japanese Sino-Japanese war fighter ace, killed in a flying accident.

http://www.cieldegloire.com/010_kato_s.php

1943 - Death of Yoshikazu Nagahama, Japanese WWII flying ace, killed in action.

http://acesofww2.com/japan/

1943 - 1st flight of the Northrop XP-56 Black Bullet, American prototype fighter interceptor. The plane was a wing with a small central fuselage added to house the engine and pilot.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_XP-56_Black_Bullet#Timeline.5B1.5D - http://www.aviastar.org/air/usa/northrop_xp-56.php

1944 - The starboard engine of the McDonnell XP-67 "Bat" (or "Moonbat"), American prototype of a twin-engine, long range, single-seat interceptor aircraft, caught fire during a test flight. Test pilot E.E. Elliot executed an emergency landing at Lambert Field in St. Louis, Missouri. Elliot escaped safely, but the blaze gutted the fuselage, engine, nacelle and starboard wing; the aircraft was a total loss.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonnell_XP-67#Project_cancelation

1945 - 1st flight of the Beriev LL-143, Soviet large maritime reconnaissance and bombing flying-boat prototype which will lead to the Beriev Be-6.

http://www.aviastar.org/air/russia/be_ll-143.php

1945 - 1st crossing of the Channel by a helicopter : a captured Focke-Achgelis Fa 223 Drache, german helicopter powered by a single Bramo 323 radial engine driving two three-bladed 11.9 metre (39 feet) rotors mounted on twin booms on either side of the 12.2 metre (40 ft) long cylindrical fuselage, is flown across the English Channel from Cherbourg to RAF Beaulieu by Luftwaffe helicopter pilot Helmut Gerstenhauer and 2 observers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focke-Achgelis_Fa_223#Cross-Channel_flight

1946 - Birth of Bryan Daniel O'Connor, USMC pilot and NASA Astronaut.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bryan_D._O%27Connor

1947 - Operation Sandy : US Navy aircraft carrier USS Midway launched a captured V-2 rocket from its deck. 1st launch of a large rocket, and the only time for a V-2, from a ship at sea.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operations_Sandy_and_Pushover

1948 - John Douglas Derry, British test pilot, is widely believed to have exceeded the speed of sound (and being the 1st Briton to do so) when he lost control of his de Havilland DH 108 'Swallow' and the Mach meter briefly showed supersonic speeds in a shallow dive from 12,195 m (40,000) ft to 9,145 m (30,000) ft., although recording apparatus was switched off.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Derry

1952 - Death of John Douglas Derry, British test pilot and 1st Briton to exceed the speed of sound, killed in the Farnborough Airshow crash where his de Havilland DH.110 Sea Vixen broke up due to a design fault, causing 29 fatalities including himself and his flight observer Tony Richards.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Derry - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1952_Farnborough_Airshow_DH.110_crash

1955 - Birth of Carl Erwin Walz, USAF test pilot and NASA astronaut

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_E._Walz

1958 - 1st flight of the Breguet 765 Sahara, French military transport version of the Breguet deux ponts with accommodation for 146 fully equipped troops, 85 stretchers and medical attendants or freight.

http://www.aviastar.org/air/france/breguet-763.php - http://aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=9659

1962 - Venera 2MV-1 No.2, also known as Sputnik 20, Soviet spacecraft, returns on earth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venera_2MV-1_No.2

1970 - 4 jet airliners bound for New York City are hijacked by members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. 3 land at Dawson's Field, remote desert airstrip near Zarka, Jordan, the other one in Cairo.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dawson's_Field_hijackings

1971 - Paninternational Flight 112 BAC One-Eleven crashed onto a bridge while attempting to land on an Autobahn following the failure of both engines just after take off from Hamburg Airport killing 22 over 121.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paninternational_Flight_112

1976 - Viktor Belenko of the Soviet Union defects to the West, landing his MiG-25 FoxBat in Japan.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Belenko

1985 – Midwest Express Airlines Flight 105 Douglas DC-9-14 crashes after an Engine failure on takeoff from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, killing 31.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midwest_Express_Airlines_Flight_105

1997 - Royal Brunei Airlines Flight 238 Dornier Do 228 crashed into a slope at 500m in Lambir Hills National Park on approach to Miri Airport, malaysia, killing all 10.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Brunei_Airlines_Flight_238

2006 - Lynx Aviation, Inc. American regional airline, is formed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynx_Aviation

2008 - Launch of GeoEye-1, American high-resolution earth observation satellite.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeoEye-1

2010 - 1st flight of The Eurocopter X3 (X-Cube), French experimental compound helicopter which is intended to fly at speeds of over 220 knots .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurocopter_X3

2011 - The Russian Ministry of Defense suspended all its flights of MiG-31s after the crash of one of them whose in-flight explosion caused the death of two pilots in the region Perm, Ural.

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/europe/09/06/russia.plane.crash/

2011 - Aerocon Flight 238 Swearingen SA.227BC Metroliner III crashed on approach, 29km from Trinidad, bolivia, killing 8 over 9.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerocon_Flight_238